Return to Fiction by Mima
As I was towed up, I weakly tried to move around, I felt slight feelings of movement, but nothing huge, but it wasn’t helped that I was being pulled quite sharply.
Once we’d found the machine again, Yuka swung me away slightly, letting me hover slowly down to the ground.
As I tried to control myself once again, Yuka was more interested in getting the next clue; she looked at the machine before walking around it a few times, which made me notice.
“You put the paper in the top.” I commented.
Yuka looked at me for a moment, before looking back down at the contraption, and followed what I said. Soon enough, the machine spat out the next clue which Yuka snatched away.
The flower youkai read the paper for a few seconds before frowning slightly.
“What’s up, not been able to solve the puzzle within 5 seconds?” I joked cautiously.
“No, it’s the opposite.” Yuka spoke out, “And that’s what I find suspicious.” As usual, Yuka marched to the side of the mountain before taking to the air, and turned around, waiting for me. “Come on, we haven’t got all day.”
I nodded, before moving quickly over to her and took a small jump up in the air, began to hover, it was better to make sure I could hover now, rather then just jump off the side like Yuka.
Movement was finally making itself known to me, and I was able to move forward, behind Yuka. However she was still moving far too fast for me. When she noticed, she sighed, flew back and grabbed my sleeve, towing me through the air once again.
“Where are we going?” I asked after a minute or so.
Yuka sighed, “Mugenkan.”
“Where?” I asked, puzzled.
Yuka rose an eyebrow as she looked at me, “Are you being serious?”
“Yes.” I asked, now as puzzled as her.
“You live there, idiot.” Yuka turned her head back, looking at where she was flying.
Suddenly, I was even more confused, “What? I thought you said were lived at the Kazami Mansion?”
“Yes, that’s the mansion. Mugenkan is the dream-world itself, although, what we’re looking for is most likely in the mansion at a guess since I put very little else there.” Yuka began explaining.
“Oh, I see. You never told me that.” I commented.
Yuka shrugged and made a loud, uncaring sigh, “It’s not my fault. You never asked.”
“I never said it was.” I replied.
There was very little other conversation occur on the way to Mugenkan and fortunately, the fact we were descending this time made the journey a little faster, and followed me to practice my flying a few times.
I began to wonder what Yuka would do next, she used to pick on me by dropping me from great heights, but now I can fly, I’ve made that useless, but I dread to think what she may think of next.
The familiar, welcoming sight of the yellow sea of sunflowers soon arrived, and I noticed that Yuka let go of me as we approached the portal, maybe trying to catch me off-guard however I was able to comfortably slow down and gently land on the ground
“Getting the hang of it, are you?” Yuka asked.
“Well, sorta, I mean, I still can’t fly around well, but at least I can stop you breaking my arms.” I laughed.
Yuka smirked, “Oh, I assure you I have many ways to do that.”
Damn my big mouth.
Yuka chuckled to herself for a moment, “Now, come on. We have another clue to find.” She spoke as she entered the portal.
I sighed and quickly entered the portal, hoping that Yuka hadn’t suddenly done one of her teleporting acts and is already by the mansion by now.
She had.
I shouted after her, “Oh, come on! How the hell do you do that!?”
I think I could just make out her grinning, when I suddenly heard her voice all around me. “I told you, this is my world, I can do anything I want, just like how I can sense that there’s something unknown to me in the mansion, which is obviously what we’re looking for, now hurry up.”
I began to walk over to Yuka, with another sigh when in a disorientating moment, I was suddenly seemed to step several hundred metres in a single pace, placing me next to Yuka.
“What the-“ I muttered.
“I’ve got no time for you to be casually walking all the way here.” Yuka taunted, before entering the mansion, leaving the door open for me. With little other choice, I simply followed her into the mansion.
“So, Yuka… You can tell where that machine is already?” I asked.
Yuka turned and nodded as she walked, “Yes, and in fact, I can tell you it’s upstairs, and located in the second room on the left in the west wing of the building.” She smiled smugly.
That’s a point, I’ve never seen the west wing of the house, I wonder what’s there?
Yuka gracefully ascended the stairs, humming her usual tune.
I wonder that music is that she’s humming?
“Come on, hurry up.” Yuka ordered without warning as we walked down the hallway.
“But I’m right behind you!” I complained.
Yuka merely laughed to herself and opened the door. “See, what did I say? Just where I said it would be.”
Upon entering the room I froze for a moment, “What… the hell?”
The room I had just entered defined an entertainment centre in Gensokyo, the sheer shock of something so unexpected for the resident of the mansion left me speechless.
In fact, it went against what I believed was logical in Gensokyo.
The first thing I noticed was the average sized television, placed uncaringly in the corner, obviously, it didn’t see much use. At a brief glance, I guessed that there were DVDs or VHS videos near it, but I was too distracted. Close to that were some long, comfy looking settees, which, as usual had the trademark Kazami pattern embroidered on them.
Along the opposite wall, however, was what appeared to be a giant collection of instruments, a piano, a violin, a saxophone, a guitar, and even some that like the TV shouldn’t even exist, such as electric guitars.
“You can’t be serious…” I muttered.
Yuka made a quizzical noise, “What’s the matter now?”
“Everything in this room, it’s like a giant contradiction to Gensokyo itself, there’s no power here.” I argued.
“In Gensokyo, there is not. But what did I say earlier? I control this dream world, I can make anything happen.”
“But, why…? Why have all these stuff? It seems really odd, for you.”
Yuka looked sarcastic, “If you think I’m someone who has stood outside for the last millennium, each and every day, you’re wrong. Even I can get bored, you should know.” Yuka tapped her foot on the floor.
“So, you learnt how to play instruments?” I asked, still bewildered.
Yuka grinned confidently, “Oh yes… What’s wrong Haru, you still seem surprised.”
I shook my head, “I’m sorry, it’s just… hard to imagine you playing a guitar like that.” I quietly spoke, pointing at the electric guitar she was stood by.
Yuka looked at me, and her grin grew as she reached down and picked the guitar up.
Oh boy.
Immediately, Yuka began to thrash the guitar quickly, making me wonder if I was to hear music, or just a load of noise.
Slightly to my surprise, the thrashing became much more structured, and a little slower.
“So, what do you call this music?” I asked while it was a little quieter.
Yuka thought for a moment, “Inanimate Dream.”
“Odd name.” I said, to which Yuka just frowned, and played louder.
Eventually, the music began to build up, until the music practically exploded into an array of fast notes, making the music itself sound quite insane, quite suiting, considering the person who was playing it.
Minutes passed as Yuka continued to attack her guitar, still leaving me in a state of shock and disbelief, Yuka Kazami, playing a guitar to such a high level of skill, amazing…
A few minutes passed, and eventually, the song came to an end, Yuka merely tossed the guitar to the side and stepped forward. “Well? Believe I can play it now?”
“Y-Yeah, that was… pretty awesome, if you played like that, you’d become instantly famous, and you wouldn’t have to kill anyone or anything like that.” I praised, with a hint of sarcasm at the end.
Yuka merely smirked, “Now, we haven’t got any more time to waste, let’s get this over with.” She spoke, as she walked over to the machine, which I had only just noticed, since it blended in well with the heaps of strange, out-of-place looking items.
The routine followed, and soon enough Yuka received the final clue, which she sort of flinched when she read it. “Typical.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Final Clue! Head to the place closest to the outside!” She said, voiced in a mocking version of Yukari.
“Which means?” I asked.
Yuka brushed some hair from her face, “It’s the place that has the great border, or rather, the Hakurei Border.”
“Which means, the shrine?”
Yuka nodded, “She never even moved in the first place.”
Yuka tucked the clue into one of her pockets, “Well then, we should go, get this waste of time done.”
Wait, weren’t you the one who wanted to do it in the first place?
“Come on, Haru.” She said from the doorway, before disappearing from sight.
As I followed her, I couldn’t help but wonder what were in the other rooms on this side of the mansion, and made a memo in my head to come and check it out when I had the time.
This time, Yuka didn’t even bother with the stairs, and just jumped off the guard rail, landing in the main hall.
Show off.
I considered trying the same, but the amount of falls I’d already had today changed my mind, and I decided to just hover down the stairs for practice. At the bottom, as usual, I walked beside Yuka as we walked out of the mansion and to the portal which again was practically next to the mansion.
Since the quickest route to anywhere was usually a straight line, Yuka took to the sky as we exited the portal, and I slowly, but surely followed suit, and soon enough, I managed to fly forward at a half-decent pace towards the shrine.
Out of the blue, Yuka asked a question, “So, do you enjoy living back there, in Mugenkan?”
“I nodded, distracted by the scenery and the fact I was flying without Yuka’s aid, “Yeah, it’s nice, colourful, unusual, high quality things, and you’re there.”
Did I just say that?
I quickly spoke again, “Why, are you thinking of kicking me out or something?”
Yuka smiled, “No, no reason. I just wondered what you thought of it.”
A moment of silence passed until I broke it again, “Where did you get those things from, anyway? In that room I mean.” I asked curiously, “I know you can make them since it’s your world but, surely you need to know of such a thing first.”
“Oh, there’s a little shop on the other side of the shrine, and it deals in all sorts of useless human items, I have a few books from there which gave me the ideas. I suppose I can take you there one day.” The youkai explained.
“Human items, from the outside world?”
“Yes, mostly due to Yakumo and her gap manipulating.”
“I see. That’s interesting to know, might find something decent there.”
Time went by, passing fairly quickly since I got into a small conversation with the flower youkai about her music, she told me why she made her own music and basically just bragged about how she was more talented then I. I ended the conversation by telling her that I’d learn now I have the chance, and one day, I’d be better then her. Although since she always had to have the last word, she just told me to dream on.
Here we are. Back again
The Hakurei Shrine stood ahead of us, standing out against the twilight sky. Quickly I checked the time, it’d soon be approaching the evening, so we finished at quite a good time.
I noticed Yuka begin to speed up, faster then I go, when she announced, “I think we’re the first ones here!”
“Well, let’s just get there first, shall we?” I mumbled.
As Yuka descended to the shrine, I noticed a gap open above her, “Yuka, above you!” I warned.
Yuka quickly looked up, before firing her parasol right into it, but there was little effect, or anything at that matter.
“Ow…” A voice called out a few seconds later, followed by Yukari hanging upside down, out of the gap. “That was awfully uncalled for.”
Yuka sneered, “You shouldn’t sneak up on me then.”
Finally, I caught up with Yuka, and asked while Yukari was there, “Are we first here?”
“Yes, congratulations, well done, bravo, you’re the winners.” She said, with an eerie tone in here voice. “Now, if you don’t mind me, I have to make some preparations for your prize, just wait here and… gloat at the others, I know that’s your style.” She smirked, quickly diving into her gap to dodge a lunge from Yuka.
Despite Yuka’s outburst, that exactly what we did, lounging around the shrine while we waited for people to arrive, soon enough Mima and Marisa arrived, followed by Remilia and Sakuya, both teams quite annoyed by our presence.
“You can be serious, you won?” Marisa shouted.
“Yes, and have you got a problem with that?” Yuka said, threateningly.
Mima interrupted, “Well, let’s just sit aside and see what they get. She never actually said what the prize was, did she?”
Yuka shrugged, “As long as it’s something worth my time, otherwise she’ll have hell to pay.” I couldn’t help but laugh slightly at Yuka’s violent attitude.
After quite a large crowd, roughly 10 teams had arrived, Yukari announced her arrival by descending in the centre of the crowd, through another gap. “Let’s have a round of applause for our winners!”
There was a very slow, quiet series of clapping before it turned silent.
Noticing something, I asked Yukari a question, “Where’re the others? There were at least 4 more teams here at the start.”
Yukari laughed from behind her fan, “The cause is the team of the Tengu and the Kappa.” Yukari held an arm out, “You know the Kappa love technology, well, she saw what I used to distribute the clues, and, as her kind does, she took it apart. Here we are now, and she still hasn’t fixed it, and the other teams who had that clue are stuck there, and well… when I last checked, a large scale brawl had broken out there.
“Where was it?” Mima asked.
“Oh, in the doctor’s lab at Eientei.” Yukari laughed, while at the same time, Reisen shrieked in panic, grabbed Tewi and flew away, towards the bamboo forest.
There was a little more discussion on the clues, and what happened to each team, when Yukari cleared her voice getting everyone’s attention again.
“And now, time for the prize, to our beloved Flower Youkai and her minion.”
Minion!?
“Your prize is…” Yukari covered her mouth again.
“What? Out with it?” Yuka demanded.
“A chance to play in my next game! Win that, and you get anything you want!” Yukari shouted, holding her arms out as if to present something.
“You cannot be serious.” Yuka said, with a deadly-serious expression on her face. “What is this game anyway?”
“Oh, that’s simple, you just have to get back here.” Yukari smiled.
There was a pause, as everyone waited for a reaction from Yuka.
“Not interested.” She said, passively.
“What!?” Yukari shouted in surprise, before quickly regaining her composure, and at the same time, a serious look appeared in her eyes. “There’s no choice about it, you’re going to play whether you like it or not.”
I jumped slightly, as a strange red and purple border appeared around the shrine, “Try escaping now.” She giggled ominously, again with half her face covered by her fan.
“What are you planning, M-Yukari?” Mima shouted.
“There’s a slight problem with you, you’re too powerful, you could hurt someone, so for this game, something needs to be done about it.”
Suddenly Yukari began talking again, but it was as if someone muted her, there was no sound coming from her at all.
Wait a second, I can’t read her lips. No, what’s she saying?
Wait, she’s hiding her hand in the fold of her dress.
Spell Card.
“Yuka, she-“
“Haru, get back! She’s attacking!” Yuka shouted.
Acknowledging her, I jumped backwards at the same time as her, only for a laser to appear between us, pain filled my arm as the laser grazed it, far more pain then when Yuka had broke it, or dropped me, and I could only find myself drop to one knee. Looking to the side, I was slightly disheartened that Yuka had suffered the same wound, but seemed to stand the pain a bit more.
Suddenly, just as quick as it appeared, the laser disappeared again.
“Do you know the nature behind my cards? They’re named after various borders I can manipulate, they have their own bullet patterns, and if one hits you, then you’re marked for the manipulation of that border, though, I never actually invoke that effect.” Yukari explained.
“Until now.”
Yukari quickly muttered something under her breath, and instantly I found myself paralysed and falling backwards to the floor, and promptly blacking out.
…
…
…
…
“Wake up!”
“He’s moving, stop hitting him.”
“Hey, come on, wake up!”
I suddenly came back to my senses, feeling extremely lethargic and weak, when a sharp blow of realization hit me, causing my eyes to slam open and for my upper body to lie up.
I knew it… I just knew it...
Gone was the blue costume I wore in Gensokyo, and instead, were my old jeans, checking my arm, it was my old jacket.
“I… I’m human again?”
I looked to the person beside me, Mima. I merely nodded with a grim face.
“Where’s Yukari gone, I want to change back.” I muttered.
Mima explained quietly, “She said she had some final preparations to do.”
Slowly, I picked myself off the floor, refusing any help that Mima and Marisa offered.
“Where’s Yuka?” I asked quickly.
Mima motioned to the other side of me with her head, where there was just a large body of light, it was impossible to make out Yuka. “You were like that until you woke up, that light transformed you, I think.”
“Then that means Yuka…”
“Was also hit by the effect.”
Uh oh, DEFCON 1.
Almost as if it was a signal, the light quickly faded from Yuka, there was a moment of silence, and then movement. A few seconds later, there were only gasps of shock.
Yuka sat up, and examined herself, it took a few seconds to sink in, before she left to her feet and screamed at an almost unheard, “SHOW YOURSELF, YUKARI! CHANGE ME BACK, NOW.”
The spectators, including myself were still shocked though, at her form, she was literally half the size, wearing a formal white dress, and that’s when I realized, she WAS a child.
“She changed us back to our human forms before we died. Is that right, Mima?”
Mima was still visibly shocked, more then anyone else watching. “Mima? Is something wrong.”
“I knew it…” She spoke quietly. “I knew it…”
“You knew what? Lady Mima?” Marisa asked.
“I knew I’d met her before…” She continued.
“What, you recognise her even now?” I quickly asked.
“I should have noticed the clues, like your name….”
“What about it?” I took a chance and grabbed Mima’s sleeve, and shook her slightly. “Make more sense, have you met her before?” I asked, trying to ignore the screams of fury from Yuka.
“I… I- Yes, I’ve met her before, a long time ago, it was her death that was the catalyst to my own… Haruka Kirisame…”
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